Driver was almost 7 times drink limit
NHS manager is sent to jail for four months
An NHS manager was so drunk when she got out of her car after being stopped by police that she couldn’t stand, Perth Sheriff Court was told.
Forty-three-year-old Beth McDowall, of Innerpeffray, near Crieff, fell backwards onto the roadside verge. She then failed a breath test - and later tests showed she had been behind the wheel with almost seven times the legal alcohol limit, one of the highest readings ever recorded at the Perth court.
The occupational therapist, who had been on a drinking binge, was jailed for four months - and banned for 66 months - after Sheriff Lindsay Foulis noted she has a previous conviction for a similar offence.
On that occasion she was disqualified for two years for driving with more than three times the booze limit.
She had only got her licence back two years ago yet had committed what he described as “an incredibly stupid and serious offence.”
Sheriff Foulis added: “It’s perfectly clear you were in absolutely no fit state to drive your vehicle and you constituted a very serious risk to other road users.”
If she had struck and killed a pedestrian, for instance, or another driver, she would have been appearing in the High Court and would be “facing a period of years in custody.”
He added: “In the circumstances, I consider it’s undoubtedly appropriate that you lose your liberty.”
Because of the lengthy ban imposed, McDowall was ordered to re-sit the extended driving test to check her fitness to drive again unsupervised.
She was led away in handcuffs after admitting driving on the B8062 road, near Sheareston, on September 29, 2017, with 151 microgrammes of alcohol on her breath. The maximum allowed is 22.
An earlier prosecution move to seize her £7000-plus Renault Clio car, with a view to its possible forfeiture, was rejected by the sheriff.
She was given a 12-month Community Payback Order - a direct alternative to a jail term - at Elgin Sheriff Court on February 27, 2013, and also put off the road for two years for drink/driving.
Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said police received a call about 4pm on September 29 relating to concerns about the accused driving her car.
Officers carried out a search around the Perth court building but she wasn’t traced.
She was traced near her home address and officers detected “a strong smell of alcohol.”
The fiscal explained: “When the accused exited her vehicle, she fell straight back onto the verge.”
She gave a positive roadside breath test and when further procedures were carried out at Perth police headquarters just before 7pm, a lower reading of 151 microgrammes was recorded.
Solicitor Louisa Wade said her client has a “fairly longstanding problem” with drink but had recently started a 12-week programme with the Tayside Substance Misuse Centre.
She was also on an 18-month course of medication to take away her “craving” for alcohol and was receiving help from Alcoholics Anonymous.
She had been “wrongly accused” of drinking by her manager that day and had then gone to Auchterarder where she purchased alcohol.
She had consumed that near a river before driving the short distance to her home.
A background report indicated she would be “a vulnerable person” if given a prison sentence.
But Sheriff Foulis said he not only had to take account of the accused’s circumstances but also the risk posed to other road users because of the very high reading.
Beth McDowall was found to be almost seven times the limit